St. Joseph Parish

Office Hours

The Vercelli House at 440 N. Moreland Blvd. Waukesha, WI | Monday-Thursday | 8:00am-4:30pm

818 N. East Ave. Waukesha WI 53186-4808
262-922-9285

In 1842, Reverend Martin Kundig said Mass in a log house on East Avenue and Main Street on land donated to the Catholics by Solomon Juneau, a French Canadian fur trader, land speculator, and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee. Reverend Kundig was a zealous missionary priest from Switzerland who laid the groundwork for St. Joseph Catholic Church in Waukesha. 

Work began on their own stone church around 1847, and was completed in 1849. As the story was told, Reverend Kundig's parish covered a large area of land and he was too poor to keep a horse. At services on a Sunday morning, during a time when the parish went through much illness, he asked the congregation to be patient; he would see them as fast as he could, although the distances were great and he had to walk. After the service, several young women agreed to set aside enough money from their small earnings to buy Reverend Kundig a horse. This was a great sacrifice in as much as 50 cents a week was placed into a parish fund. 

The present St. Joseph Church, an imposing stone building in a Gothic style, was built between 1888 and 1890 at a cost of $43,787, including the furnishings. The old stone church was just north of it was converted into a parish hall. 

In 1902, the old stone rectory was replaced by a frame building. In 1917, a school was erected around the parish hall and the convent to the south of the rectory was remodeled and enlarged. In 1914, John Paradise converted lighting in the church from gas to electric. 

St. Joseph Parish had taken a leadership role in providing space for church worship and educational facilities for Waukesha's growing Catholic population. In 1949, Catholic Memorial High School was opened on a thirty acre site purchased in 1944 for $50,000. 

There was much excitement at the St. Joseph Organ Dedication Recital on September 23, 1988, followed by a Mass of Thanksgiving for the Church Rededication on September 25, 1988, celebrating 100 years of worship. 

Since the rededication, the parish has had the following pastors: Reverend Ronald Gramza, Reverend John Brophy, Reverend Michael Michalski, Reverend William Key, Reverend Javier Bustos, Reverend Howard Haase, Reverend Patrick Heppe, and the current pastor, Fr. Matthew Widder. The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity had also served the parish for a period of 123 years and were withdrawn from parish services in recent years. 

St. Joseph Parish is known as "the Church of Second Chances”.